As Florida grapples with the "stand your ground" ramifications of the Trayvon Martin case, it is unknown how many times a similar Alabama law has been called into use as justification in causing a person's death, The Tuscaloosa News reports.

Self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman claimed Florida’s
law as a defense following the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon
Martin. Martin was unarmed when he died Feb. 26. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged.

Passed in 2006, Alabama’s bill allows the right to self-defense
with no duty to retreat in places outside the home. Under a previous state law, it was illegal to use deadly force outside the home if a person could reasonably avoid a threat without sacrificing personal safety.

The law is an expansion of the “Castle Doctrine,” which gives a resident the right to use deadly force against an intruder in his or her home.

However, it applies to the protection of a person, not property - the law cannot be used to justify the use of deadly force in a theft.

The Alabama law also prevents prosecuting or suing a self-defense claimant, as long as the self-defense claim is valid.

Though there is no compiled data on the use of the 2006 Alabama law, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the dismissal of a case against Robert Carleton of Pell City, who shot his 67-year-old father William Randolph Carleton, Jr.

Carleton used the “stand your ground” defense, and a circuit judge ruled that Carleton felt his life was in danger and he had no duty to retreat.

According to the Washington Post, “stand your ground” laws have passed in more than 30 states as a result of campaigning by the National Rifle Association and corporate-backed group American Legislative Exchange Council. The Post reports that the laws coincide with a rise in justifiable-homicide cases.